Wire-making machine.



A. SHEDLOCK. WIRE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. :4. 1908.

3 136373. Patented M 20, 1915.

WITNESSES I v ,4 NORA/5y 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. SHEDLOCK. WIRE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION man NOV. 14. 1908.

1,136 373, Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/ TNE SSE 8 N VE TOR STATES PATENT onnron.

SHEDLOCK, OF CANNON STATION, CONNECTICUT.

' WIRE-MAKING mom.

To all :whoin it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED SHEDLOCK, a

. citizen of the United States, residing in Cannon Station, county ofFairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and usefulWire-Makin Machine, of which the following is a speci cation.

This invention provides for the severance of a sheet of metal by theaction of gangs of parallel cutters into a series of strands. Thecutters act in the direction of the grain of the metal without materialdisturbance thereof so that the strands have the same characteristics inrespect to toughness, tensile strain, etc., as the metal possesses inthe sheet before it is severed into strands. The strands as formed bythe parallel cutting action of the gangs of cutters are each thensubjected to treatment such as rolling whereby the rectangular or squarestrand is made round or the sharp edges are reduced and the propersmoothness imparted to it. The strands when out from the sheet arerectangular, opposite sides corresponding with the top and bottom facesof the sheet, and the remaining opposite sides being determined b'yithelines of severance. 'The width of the strands may be equal to thethickness of the sheet, in which event the strands will be square incross section, or'their width may vary from that of 'the thickness ofthe sheet, in which'event they would be in cross section oblong. In onecase, after being subjected to the rolling or drawing operation,

the resulting Wires may be substantially cir-' cular or of other crosssection; and in the other case, they may be'oval. In the accompanyingdrawings: Figure 1 I is a longitudinal vertical section showing rollssuch as may be employed in Fig. 5

Fig. 7, a detail section on. the line-1,

Fig. 5: Fig. 8, a detailvie'w def; flection: of the strands as theyare-cut from Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 14, 1908; Serial No. 462,547.

the sheet alternated, one set bein directed upward and the remaining aternating strands of the other one directed downward. Fig. 9,- a detailsectional view showing strands of square cross section as cut from thesheet and circular or approximately circular cross section by rolling:Fig. 10, a detail sectional view showing strands of oblong cross sectioncut from the sheet and the oval cross section 'to which they arereduced.

The metal sheet severing apparatus illustrated comprises an upper gangof circular cutters a separated by spacing washers b of less diametersuitably mounted upon and keyed to a shaft 0 fitted to rotate inbearings in a suitable frame and provided at one end with a drivingpulley d, or other means, by which it may be rotated; and, at the otherend, with a gear 7 meshing with and driving another gear on the shaft gof the opposed gang of cutters consisting of similar circular cuttersand spacing washers. The cutters in one gang respectively enter andclosely laterally fit the spaces between the cutters of the other gangso that the sheet of metal fed to them will be divided into parallelstrands by the rolling shearing cutting action of the rotary cutters. Asheet of metal thus to be divided into parallel strands is indicated byh and is fed between guiding ends of strippers, of which there are oneseries for the upper gang of cutters and another series for the lowergang of cutters, there being a stripper for each space betweencontiguous cutters and one for each outside cutter. Each stripper i iscurved as at to fit the bottom ofthe annular space which it occupies.Its opposite guide side or ed e k is su stantially straight, as in Fig.

1, an extends some distance at the front or feeding side ofthe cutters,the upper andlower series being spaced apart 'to'provide a guide way forthe proper presentation of the sheet material to the cutters. Theportion of each stri per at the central line of the cutters is cientlyless in depth than that of the ace to permit the free passage of thestran which latter is marked p. The inner ends of the curved edges ofthe' ripperscontact dirt, etc., from the grooves of thegangs of cutters.The ends with the peripheries of the and are shaped to act as to removeand this gear .9 meshes with a gear u on the shaft of the upper roll ofthe second pair '0 as indicated by the broken line circles in Fig. 1.The rolls of each pair are geared together in any appropriate way. Thetwo pairs of strand-reducing rolls t and '0 may, by proper proportioningof their drivin gears have preferably a speed in excess 0 the speed ofthe rotary cutters. The first pair of rolls t, is indicated in detail inFig.

3. The opposed grooves therein are formed 'to act upon the angles orcorners of the strands to reduce them and partially form the strandspreparatory to the action of the second pair of rolls "2;, 'v, shownindetail in Flg. 4. The opposed grooves of this pair of rolls aresemi-circular incross section, the rolls tending toreduce the strands tocircu= lar cross section, or substantially so, making a wire withoutsharp edges and of suitable smoothness for the uses to which wire isordinarily applied.

In Fig. 5 there are, as before, the opposed gangs of rotary cutters andalso strippers passing between the cutters beyond the point of out. Inthis case, the strippers w of the lower-gang of cutters have their upperedges straight, and the similarly formed strippers of the upper gang ofcutters have their lower edges straight, substantially to the cuttingpoint, and then curved conformably to the cutters. The inner or leadingends of the curved edges of all of the strip ers bear on the peripheriesof spacing was ers and are shaped to remove dirt, etc., from the groovesof the gangs of cutters. The point of the V-shaped guide :0 projectsbetween the delivery ends of the strlppers and preferably has its facescurved as shown at 3 and formed with the curve of the cutters.

Cooperating with the lower face of this guide is a comb-plate 2 whosefingers 1 fit in the grooves of thelower gan of cutters and constitute acontinuation o the strippers; and, cooperating with; the u per face ofthe.

V-shaped guide, is a s' ar combguide plate 2, having the comb plate 2and fitting in the grooves of the upper gang ofcutters. The ends of lthe fingers of the two comb plates 2 and 2 are beveled and-seat underreversely formed bevels at'the ends of the stri pers, so that the 'cutstrands will pass wit out obstruccomb plates.

fingers similar to those of.

tion from the strippers to the fingers of the This arran ement of guidegrooves and comb plates iordirecting the cutalternating strands of thetwo sections in upwardly and downwardly directions,

and with each strand in vertical plane withthe groove of the gang ofcutters in which it is .formed, is the preferred and many respects themost practical embodiment of "the invention. The resultant action of thetwo coacting gangs of cutters on a thin sheet of metal is to produce amultiplicity of fine-strands or filaments arranged side by side as theyleave the cutters, and as there is a tendency for such strands orfilaments to twist or bend their free passage through a narrow pasa wacommon to them might be somewhat inter ered with. By directlng J thestrands of the two sets in different vertical directions throughindividual passages for each strand all such possible trouble will beavoided. Of course, when comparatively heavier or coarser strands areformed from thicker sheet metal they may all pass through a commonpassage way as they leave the cutters.

Fig. 7 shows in section, a strand guide' -formed by the parts :2: and z..The comb plate a is provided with ribs so as to form guide channels,one for each strand. The

comb plate 2 has similarly formed guide channels. With thisconstruction, it will be apparent that the cut strands that occupy thegrooves in the lower gang of cutters will be carried downwardly and thecut strands that occupy the grooves of theupper of cutters will becarried upwardly, as

. cated in Fig. 8. The guides irect one set of strandsto one set ofreducing rolls 3, 3, the other set of strands to another set of reducingrolls 4, 4. The rolls 3,3, and 4 4:, are shown in detail in Fig. 6. Theopposed grooves therein are shown as semi-circular in cross section sothat the tendency is to reduce the strands to circular cross section, asin Fig. 9. Of course, if the openings between the rolls were of ovalformation their.

action would be to reduce the strands to oval.

cross section and such would be the case where the width and thicknessof the strand vary. There may be two or more pairs of reducing rolls, asbefore described, applied to the construction shown in Fig. 5. Thisinventionis applicable to the manufacture of. soft wires: The length ofthe wire strands produced depends upon' the Z length of the sheet of themetal fed to the rotary cutters plus increase in length due to therounding process. It is contemplated that the apparatus is particularlyapplicable to producing short pieces of wire of a length adaptedto'special purpose such foriinstance, as florists use, wiring bottlestoppers, etc.

. Of course a plurality of long pieces of wire may be simultaneouslymade, their lengths being limited by the length of the strip or ribbonof sheet metal from which they are cut.

I claim:

1. The combination of opposed gangs of rotary cutters adapted to seversheet metal into a multiplicity of strands, strippers arranged in thegrooves of the gangs of cutters to discharge the cut strands therefrom,and guides for directing each set of strands from the strippers of therespective gangs of cutters in different angular directions relative tothe plane of travel of the sheet metal from which they are cut, saidstrands of each set being guided in vertical parallel planes and leavingthe discharge ends of the guides uniformly spaced apart.

2. The combination of opposed gangs of rotary cutters adapted to seversheet metal into a multiplicity of strands, strippers arranged in thegrooves of the gangs of cutters to discharge the cut strands therefrom,guides for directing each set of strands from the strippers of therespective gangs of cutters in different angular directions relativeto'the plane of travel of the sheet metal from which they are cut, saidstrands of each set being guided in vertical parallel planes and leavingthe discharge ends of the guides uniformly spaced apart and a pair ofshaping rollers located at the discharge ends of the guides of each setof strands adapted to change the cross section of the strands.

3. The combination of opposed gangs of rotary cutters adapted to seversheet metal into a multiplicity of strands, strippers arranged in thegrooves bf the gangs of cutters to discharge the cut strands therefromand shaped to act as scrapers to remove dirt, &c., from said grooves,guides for directing each set of strands from the strippers of therespective gangs of cutters in different angular directions relative tothe plane of travel of the sheet metal from which they are out, saidstrands of each set being guided in vertical parallel planes and leavingthe. discharge ends of the guides the guides of each set of strandsadapted to change the cross section of the strands.

4. The combination of opposed gangs of rotary cutters adapted to seversheet metal into a multiplicity of strands, strippers arranged in thegrooves of the gangs of cutters to discharge the cut strands therefrom,and extending at the front or feeding side of the cutters to act as aguide for directing the sheet material to the cutters, the dischargeends of the strippers being undercut, guides havingtheir ends beveledseated under the undercut ends of the strippers for directing each setof strands from the strippers of the respective gangs of cutters indifferent angular directions relative to the plane of travel of thesheet metal from which they are cut, said strands of each set beingguided in vertical parallel planes and leaving the discharge ends of theguides uniformly spaced apart.

5. The combination of opposed gangs of rotary cutters adapted to seversheet metal into a multiplicity of strands, strippers arranged in thegrooves of the gangs of cutters to discharge the cut strands therefrom,guides for directing each set of strands from the strippers of therespective gangs of cutters in difierent angular directions relative tothe plane of travel of the sheet metal from which they are out, saidstrands of each set being guided in vertical parallel planes and leavingthe discharge ends of the guides uniformly spaced apart and said guidescomprising a V-shaped guide piece Whose point extends into the dischargeside of the two gangs of cutters and a comb plate for each 1 ALFREDSHEDLOCK.

Witnesses:

L. F, BROWNING, E. F. WIcKs.

